Fire at West End barbecue restaurant disrupts dinner for hungry crowd

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

Please enable Javascript to watch this video

HENRICO, Va. (WTVR) - It appears a dinner-time fire at Buz and Ned’s Real Barbecue in Henrico's West End started in the restaurant's bathroom. When employees noticed smoke coming out of the men’s bathroom, they alerted the manager.

“It [the smoke] was black as my t-shirt,” said restaurant manager Patrick Hampton. “So I immediately shut the door and told the guests to get out."

About three dozen hungry patrons were inside eating; some had just received their food.

“If they already paid for their food, then we took their names and we will keep our word and make sure they get what they came for,” said Hampton.

Firefighters contained the smoke and flames to a bathroom, and investigators began to do their work inside.

"Light smoke changed to black smoke so we marked it as a working fire,” said Henrico Fire Capt. James Mellon. “The Fire Marshal will have to determine when the fire started and how it started."

Hampton told CBS 6 he hoped the restaurant would be able to open Wednesday.

Tuesday was has not been a good day for barbecue in Richmond, with the announcement today that Richmond Bill’s Barbecue was closing all stores after 82 years.